Mistletoe
by Cassandra2
Summary: Another one of those L/J fics. Please r/r!!
1. Part 1

Mistletoe  
By ~Cassandra~  
  
~Hey all- Please please please review! My self-confidence lowers with every person who reads, but doesn't want to review. Just one thing- no flames! Thanks a bunch!!!~  
  
Chapter 1  
Lily Evans grabbed her cart and made a mad dash for the wall between Platforms 9 and 10 at Kings Cross Station. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact and the humiliation that would follow. But it never came. She opened an eye and found herself running towards a scarlet steam engine.   
"You can stop running now," said a voice as Lily skidded to a halt. She looked around to find two boys lounging on their trunks. Both had black hair, but one had glasses. They smiled amusedly at her, crooked grins of troublemakers.   
Lily blushed, embarrassed, and began to wheel her cart loaded with trunks in the opposite direction.   
"The free compartments are that way," the one with glasses said, pointing in the opposite direction.   
Lily turned as red as her hair as the two boys chuckled.   
"Let me guess, you're Muggle-born," glasses asked.   
Lily stared.   
"Yeah," the second boy said.   
Lily glared at him. "I can answer questions ya know," she informed him dryly.  
"Then answer this one: what's a Muggle?"  
Lily's face flamed. "A person," she snapped, then turned her trolley and set out for the train.  
"What kind of person, Carrot?" the boy shouted after her. Lily ignored him, as she muttered under her breath. "What a jerk! A complete moron!"  
She grabbed her red and brass trunk and heaved it through a door and into a compartment. Lemon, her cat, jumped in after her, mewing angrily as Lily almost shut the door on her tail.   
Lily, still cross, sat down and looked out the window. She saw the two boys from earlier, but they had joined two more guys and were now chatting eagerly. She blushed slightly when she remembered the question.   
"Then what's a muggle?"  
"Hello!" a cheerful voice said. Lily turned to find a blonde sticking her head in through the door.  
"Oh, hello!" Lily replied.   
"Would you mind if I shared the compartment?" the girl asked, smiling a bit.  
"Not at all!"   
The girl dragged in her trunk, with the help of Lily, and sat down across from her.   
"I'm Darcie Phillips," the blonde said. She had beautiful gray eyes, that accented her dirty blond messy-bun.   
"Lily Evans," Lily smiled.   
"So, are you a muggleborn?" Darcie asked.   
"Huh?"  
"I take that as a yes!" Darcie laughed. "Muggle means a non-magic person. Purebloods are people who have wizard parents."  
"I'm already behind, and I haven't even seen the school yet!" Lily moaned.   
"Oh, don't worry. Nobody's at an advantage right away," Darcie said, trying to comfort Lily.  
"Sorry for interrupting, but this is the only free compartment, so we were wondering if we could share it," someone asked. Darcie and Lily turned to find two girls poking in their heads. One was Chinese, or so it seemed, and the other was a brunette.   
"Of course!" Lily said. "The more the merrier!"  
Once the four had resettled, introductions were made.   
"I'm Mei Long," the Chinese girl said.   
"And I'm Leila," the brunette smiled.  
"Darcie."  
"Liliane," Lily said. "But if you call me that, you're dead. Just Lily would be fine."  
The other three giggled as the train lurched into motion. They started talking about Hogwarts, girl style.  
"My older sister goes there!" Darcie said. "Fourth year. She said that some of the people in Ravenclaw are really hott!"  
"Oooh!" Mei Long squealed. "Who should we be on the look out for?"   
Darcie rattled off a list of names that Lily hardly bothered to memorize.   
All of the sudden, a loud bang sounded. The girls all jumped, but Leila was quick to wave the smoke away with her wand. Four boys were revealed crouching over another smoke bomb, wands positioned.  
"You again!" Lily said, astonished.  
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" demanded Darcie, her wand brandished.   
The boy with the glasses stood up and gave a mock bow. "I am James Potter," he said.   
"Ignore him. I'm Black. Sirius Black,' said the other black-haired boy, standing in front of James.   
"Remus Lupin," the brown haired kid said.   
The fourth, and fat, boy had said his name so quietly that nobody heard.   
"Peter," James said, gesturing towards him.   
"That's all very nice-" Lily started.  
"Oh, isn't it, Liliane?" James interrupted, grinning evilly.  
"Do. Not. Call. Me. That!" Lily said, putting her hands on her hips.   
"Oh, watch out, James," Sirius joked. "You'll be blown to smithereens when Carrot's through with you!"  
Peter whimpered.   
"That's it! Out! OUT!" Darcie said angrily, brandishing her wand. "Banishio!"  
The four boys moved back two inches before bursting into hysterics.  
"Banishio!" Lily said loudly.   
The boys went flying backwards towards the closed doors of the compartment when-  
"Openus!" Mei Long shouted. The doors swung open as the boys flew through, then closed behind them with a slam.  
"You go, girls!" Leila laughed. "Show them who's boss!"  
Soon, all of the girls were in hysterics, over the silliness of the whole situation and the jokes that kept popping up. They thought they had gotten the best of the guys. That wasn't what James Potter was thinking.  
He lay sprawled on the floor, entangled in a web of arms and legs that took 20 long minutes to get out of.  
"We'll get them back," James said. "But right now we've got more important things to think off. Like how much candy we're going to buy off the sweet cart.  
Sirius was the first to race towards the sweet cart and empty his pockets of money.  
"James," he began, with a devilish smile. "Most girls go on diets, right?"  
James looked at Remus, who had an older sister.  
"Tell me about it," he said, rolling his eyes. Suddenly, he looked intently at Sirius. "You don't mean-"  
"What? What does he mean?" squeaked Peter.   
"If we helped the girls along with their diets," James said, catching on.   
"Oh no," Peter said, recognizing the devilish grins.  
"By taking all of the sweets! Empty your pockets, men!" Sirius said gallantly.   
Together they managed to empty the trolley, much to the amazement of the witch. When they had finished, not a single Chocolate Frog was left.   
"Dig in," James grinned, gesturing to the mountain of sweets before them. The rest of the group was only too happy to comply.   
  
~*~  
The girls stopped chattering for a moment as a witch pulled the sweet trolley to a stop. Much to Darcie's dismay, it was empty.  
"What?!" she said disbelievingly. "Where are all the Pumpkin Pasties?"  
"Sorry girls," the witch said. "A group of boys back there cleaned me out."  
The four shared a dark look, which the witch missed.  
"I'll try to restock and be back," she promised, then left.   
"Oooh, when I get my hands on them," Darcie started.   
"Oh, forget it," Mei Long said dismissively. "There'll be a huge feast after the Sorting. The guys will probably be too stuffed to eat a thing."  
Lily had to giggle at this. "The look on their faces when they can't eat anything. We had better offer them dessert!"   
'Approaching Hogworts in 10 minutes!" announced a magically enhanced voice.   
"We'd better change into our robes," Leila said.   
The four slipped their robes over their heads, but Mei Long stopped to ask Lily a question.  
"Where'd you get that horrendous bruise?"   
Lily looked down at her arm. "Oh this? It's just... when I slipped in the shower!" she said unconvincingly.   
"Well, okay," Mei Long said suspiciously, but her worries were drowned out by the feeling of awe the rest indulged in. The Hogwarts castle was in plain view. It was huge, and beautiful.  
The train stopped in front of it, and the four girls still stood admiring it.   
Lily slowly tore her eyes away from the sight and grabbed her things.   
"C'mon!" she called over her shoulder before jumping out the door.   
"Firs' years o'er here!" a huge man called from behind a massive beard. He had to be at least 10 feet tall, and made Lily's neck hurt to look at him.   
"Name's Hagrid," he rumbled and took Lily's trunk for her. "You're wantin' teh go to that boat over there," he said as he steered her in that direction.   
Lily climbed in the boat, shortly followed by Mei Long, Darcie, Leila. They set off across the giant moat, propelled by magic.   
Lily scowled when she found that James' boat was right next to hers. James responded in the same manner, making faces at her.   
Lily turned away to force down a smile.   
It wasn't long before they all stood in line, approaching a raised platform in front of the entire school. Professor McGonagall briskly took out a piece of parchment and waited, staring at the objects to the front of the platform. On a stool sat a badly frayed hat. The pattern was frayed beyond recognition, except for the faded blues and reds.  
"I'm going to kill my sister!" Darcie whispered from behind. "She told me we had to ward off an Auror who was attacking!"   
"An Auror?" Lily asked.  
Before she had time to answer, a rip at the brim of the hat opened wide, just like a mouth, and burst into song. (A/N: Here goes nothing...)  
  
"'Twas a brilliantly sunny day,  
When Godric sat down and said,  
"When we're gone and buried,  
who will choose students in our stead?"  
  
Lily was so amazed, as were Darcie and Mei Long, that she hardly heard the rest of the song. (A/N: Phew!) Then a name was called out, "Abcondic,Patty!" A pudgy girl of red-brown hair stepped forward and nervously tried on the hat.   
"RAVENCLAW!" it shouted, and a table to the far left burst into applause.   
"Bainbridge, Samuel!"   
"HUFFLEPUFF!"   
"Bionco, Olivia!"  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
"Black, Sirius!" the boy from the train came forward and jammed the hat eagerly onto his head.  
"GRYFFINDOR!"   
Lily scowled as he jauntily waved from the Gryffindor table.   
"Chang, Mei Long!"  
Mei Long, with wide eyes, stepped forward and tried on the hat. For two minutes the entire hall, especially Leila, Darcie, and Lily, waited in anticipation. "GRYFFINDOR!" it finally shouted.   
A table in the middle cheered louder than the first tables. Mei Long, grinning, sat down by what looked like a seventh year girl, who patted her on the back.   
Several other names, and houses were called ("DiCombrio, Tony!" "SLYTHERIN!"), as Lily inspected the house tables. The other center table was full of people who sneered at those trying on the Sorting Hat.   
"Definitely not for me," Lily said to herself as Tony walked toward them.   
"Evans, Liliane!" Lily stumbled forward then nervously tried on the hat. She got a glimpse of Mei Long giving her two thumbs up before seeing only the black silk lining of the hat.  
Well, well. The hat was saying. What do we have here?  
Not a Slytherin! Lily was quick to say. The hat laughed.  
You've got nerve, a GRYFFINDOR trait!  
Relieved, Lily set off for Mei Long's table and sat down next to her.   
"I can't believe it! We're together!" Mei Long squealed and threw her arms around Lily.   
They were interrupted by, "Finnigan, Leila!"  
Leila walked to the hat, gave Lily and Mei Long a smile, and slipped it on. The hat hardly waited a second before announcing her a, "RAVENCLAW!"  
Lily managed to give Leila an enthusiastic smile and a thumbs up as she walked to the Ravenclaw table.  
"Oh no," Mei Long grieved as eight more names were called.   
"Potter, James!" was called as the familiar face jammed on the hat as eagerly as Black had.  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted without a moment's hesitation.   
Lily groaned, but Mei Long giggled. "Look! My sister's saying he's a hottie!"   
A girl who looked like an older version of Mei Long was pointing to James and fanning herself.   
The two were so absorbed in giggling and signing wildly back that they almost didn't hear, "Er-Phillips, Darcie!"   
Darcie glared at McGonagall, who had obviously made a mistake and skipped her name, then tried on the hat.   
"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted after long last.   
Darcie ran toward them and sat down, whispering excitedly. They didn't even hear the last names being called, but when they looked up all four of the Potter gang sat in front of them. They quickly looked away.  
"They hurt my eyes," Darcie moaned, sending Lily and Mei Long into a giggling spasm again.   
"If you'll give me your attention, please, I have a few things to say," an old wizard said. Instantly, the school fell quiet.   
Lily stared in amazement. The wizard had a long silver beard and twinkling blue eyes. He winked in her direction, and then began. "You must try some of the Yorkshire pudding this year. It's a new recipe and tastes wonderful!" McGonagall glared and he hastily continued. "On a different note, no one is allowed in the Forbidden Forest, hence the name. Now, try the Yorkshire pudding, if you please."  
With his final words, the table was filled with every sort of food Lily could imagine.   
She, Darcie, and Mei Long kept up their chattering all through dinner, which, to their dismay, Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew were heartily partaking in.   
Barely, awake Lily walked with the rest of the Gryffindors into their common room, using the new password ("Mugdungon").   
"We'll get them tomorrow," Darcie muttered then fell into bed.   
Lily lay, extremely tired, without sleeping.   
"Mei Long?" she asked.  
"Hmm?"  
"Can you sleep?"  
"No."  
"Me neither. I can only sleep when I feel safe," Lily admitted.  
"Then you have every reason to be asleep!" Mei Long nearly shouted. Darcie mumbled in her sleep.  
"Hogwarts is the safest place on the face of the Wizarding world!" Mei Long thought for a moment. "Well, besides Gringotts."  
Lily felt sleepy already. "Really?"  
"Really. Now go to bed," Mei Long ordered. Lily happily complied.   
  
  
  



	2. Part 2 (sooo original)

  
Chapter 2  
  
Lily lay silently, still asleep. Darcie grinned and grabbed her pillow, creeping towards her as quiet as she could. After waiting just a moment to make sure she was asleep, Darcie raised her pillow and brought it down on Lily.  
"Ahh!" Lily screamed, then scrambled madly as she tried to stay on the bed. It was no use, as she was so entangled in the covers that she could hardly move. A loud clunk signaled her falling.   
Darcie collapsed on the bed, laughing like the world had no end.   
"Darcie!" Lily said, hands on her hips.  
"It's time for you to get up!" Darcie panted.  
Lily glared one final time and grabbed a towel and a black robe, walking towards the showers. (A/N: I'm not sure if they actually have showers..)  
An hour later, Darcie, Mei Long, and Lily ran downstairs, covered in stray feathers.  
"You're not touching my pillow!" Mei Long said, pointing at Darcie.   
"What happened to you? Have a fight with a chicken?" Sirius asked.   
"I'll bet it won!" James put in.   
"Just ignore them," Lily muttered and walked out of the portrait hole. Mei Long couldn't resist sticking out her tongue as she followed Lily, and Darcie raised her wand before being pulled out by the other two.  
"Chickens," James and Sirius muttered. Lupin just shook his head. Peter just shook everywhere.   
"They're mean," he said.  
~@~  
  
Lily was laughing at a joke Darcie made about the four guys, but she stopped laughing when James came into sight.   
"Speak of the devil," she muttered to her friends. They all watched as the four approached and took the seats directly across from them.  
"Bug off, Lupin," Mei Long said airily. "We have better things to do than look at you."  
"Oooh, insult," Sirius said, grinning at Lupin.   
"Yeah, it's the best they can come up with," James added.   
Lily's eyes flashed and she grabbed a strawberry. "Can it," she said.  
"What'd you say, Carrot?" James asked. "Rather, Liliane."  
Lily lobbed the strawberry at James, which made a bulls-eye in his open mouth.  
"Thanks," he said after a moment of shock. "It's good."  
Darcie raised her wand, but Mei Long tugged on her sleeves. "Darcie! The teachers," she hissed.   
"Yeah, Darcie," Sirius picked up "The teachers!" he waved his wand absentmindedly and her eyes went to fluorescent pink.  
Lily glared. "Don't worry, Darcie," she said, grinning. "I've got a plan for him."   
She grabbed Mei Long and Darcie, dragging them out of the hall. Her breakfast lay forgotten on the table.  
"Look here," Lily said, pulling a book out of the library shelf. "Useful charms."  
She flipped through the index and smiled, holding up the book for Darcie and Mei Long to see.   
"How to turn your hair colors," it read. Darcie grinned.  
  
~$~  
  
James walked to Charms, falling into step with Sirius.   
"They're really mad," Peter squeaked.   
"Oh, who gives," James said. "They're just girls."  
He walked into the classroom and sat in the back. The girls eyed him and Lily muttered something.   
The class began, and the girls were already passing notes and giggling.   
"I am Professor Flitwick," the tiny man squeaked in a voice higher than Peter's. "Now that I've introduced myself, let's find out who you are."  
He began to call roll, and James drew little Quidditch figures on his parchment.  
Half of the class was looking at him and giggling. "What is wrong with them?" he thought.   
Then Sirius turned to him and let out a guffaw of laughter.  
"Potter, when did you color your hair?" he laughed.  
"I didn't!" James protested.   
"Look!" Lupin roared, and handed him a pocket sized mirror.  
James looked into the mirror and turned bright red. His hair was now completely pink and purple!  
He looked around the room and his eyes came to rest on Lily, who had turned and was laughing helplessly.   
"What is all the fuss about?" Flitwick demanded, then caught sight of Potter. "Oh dear," he sighed and waved his wand. James' hair went back to normal color, but everyone was still laughing.   
"Now, please, back to Levitating Charms."  
James hardly listened to the lecture. Instead, his thoughts were on Lily. "I'm going to get her back for this!" he scribbled and passed the note to Sirius.  
"You'll have to find something really funny to top this ," Sirius wrote.  
I'll do it!" James promised.   
"Mr. Black? You partner Ms. Phillips," Flitwick said, looking at the roll. Darcie glared at Sirius.  
"And Mr. Potter, that leaves you with Ms. Evans."  
James and Lily both looked at each other, horrified.   
"Professor, isn't there someone else left?" Lily asked hurriedly.   
Flitwick didn't seem to hear. "Now, please sit with your partner and practice levitating larger objects together."  
Lily beckoned for James to come over to her, but he sat and refused to move.  
"Oh, fine," she snapped, bringing her things over to sit with him.   
Professor Flitwick handed them a cushion and told them to get to work.  
Lily and James glared at each other.   
Darcie and Sirius had already managed to levitate their cushions, and were now trying to get it to hit the other person. Mei Long and Lupin were fighting over who got to make it levitate next.  
Without looking at her, James said, "We'd better get started."  
"Yeah," Lily replied, in the same manner.   
She pointed her wand at the cushion and said, "Wingardium leviosa!"  
The pillow flew up in the air.  
"Now you try," she suggested.  
James eyed the cushion and repeated her words. The cushion went up a few inches, then flopped down to earth.  
Professor Flitwick came around. "Just point your wand at it and I'll do it!" Lily said quickly. The pillow zoomed up in the air just as the Professor turned their way.  
"Excellent!" he squeaked. "Very nice!"  
When he had turned away, James sighed with relief. Suddenly, something hit him.   
Lily had turned away, so it wasn't her... the pillow hit him again, flying around him and refusing to go away.  
"Carrot!" he said, menacingly.   
"What?" she asked innocently. Flitwick announced that class was dismissed.   
He lifted his wand and she darted out of the room, laughing up a storm.   
James flung the pillow away and glared at the door.   
  
"Now we've got Transfiguration," Mei Long said, checking her schedule.  
Lily groaned. "I tried a spell out over the summer and I couldn't get it to change in the least!"  
"Don't sweat it," Darcie said. "Nobody will be able to do it the first time!"  
They took seats in the middle of the classroom and waited for it to start.  
Professor McGonagall jumped right into telling them about certain types of transfiguration and wanted them to try turning a match into a needle.   
"Like anyone will be able to do it?" Darcie whispered.  
"No way!" Lily said.  
"Professor? Since we have to split into partners, can't we use the same ones Professor Flitwick assigned?" a Hufflepuff girl asked.   
Nononono! Lily thought.  
"I don't see why not," Professor McGonagall answered.  
Lily put her head in her hands and moaned.  
"It can't be that bad," Mei Long said.   
"You'd be surprised," Lily answered.   
"C'mon, Carrot!" Jame said. "We've gotta get started!"   
"You're actually excited to do this?" Lily asked.  
"Transfiguration is cool!" he said defensively. "I'll go first."  
He pointed his wand at the match and concentrated. Lily yawned and looked around the room. Sirius was trying to light the match while Darcie told him off, and Mei Long was arguing with Lupin over who got to go first.  
She stole a glance at James' match and wished she hadn't. His was completely silver, and the tip was getting pointy. The bottom part had a whole in it already.  
"Switch!" McGonagall called out. Mei Long and Lupin looked up wide-eyed from their argument, and Mei Long pointed her wand at the match. Lupin grudgingly let her go.   
"Your turn!" James announced.  
Lily looked like doomsday had come. "No, it's okay, you keep on going!" she said. "You've almost got it."  
"It's okay, it's your turn," James insisted, grinning. If she really didn't want to do this...He handed her the match. "See if you can get it the rest of the way."  
Lily stole a glance in Darcie's direction. She was laughing at Sirius' bent match.   
She gave on more futile try. "Oh, go on, James. I don't want to accidentally ruin it."  
"No, I insist," he grinned. "Transfigure all you like."  
Lily glared at him and got to work.   
  
~@~  
  
"Don't worry, Lily," Mei Long consoled. "They'll forget about it soon."  
"I absolutely HATE James!" Lily said fiercely. "Blood loser!"  
Darcie looked at Lily's attempt at transfiguration. "Don't worry," she said. "Mine was just as bad!"  
Lily fumed on, as Mei Long attempted to comfort her. She only stopped for breath when someone knocked on the door.   
"What?" Darcie asked irratibly.   
James poked his head in, causing all three girls' jaws to drop. "Don't worry, Carrot," he grinned. "We'll forget someday. It really was an admirable attempt." He had to stop because of laughter.   
"GET OUT!" Darcie screamed, waving her wand.  
"Darcie, no!" Mei Long and Lily shouted, knowing what she would do next.  
"Signiousta!" she shouted. There was a loud bang, but nothing happened. "He was supposed to be thrown out," she admitted.   
James had doubled with laughter.   
"Oh, let me do it," Lily said, eyeing James. "Wait..what's that?" She waved her wand in circles and James turned around (A/N: She studied her Charms book over the summer and learned a bunch of spells). There was a large kick me sign on his back. "Go Darcie!" Mei Long giggled.   
"Banishio!" Lily said, and Darcie closed the door. They heard James banging on the walls with a reverberating, "Ouch!" and into the common room.  
"It's a good thing your spell went wrong, you know," Lily giggled, her spirits greatly raised. "Who knows what could have happened."  
"It wasn't supposed to do that," Darcie said. "But its' fine with me that it did."  
The three headed down to their next class, but Lily told them to wait in the common room.  
She walked up behind James, nobody had noticed the kick me sign yet.   
Lily drew her foot back and kicked him from behind.  
"Ow!" James said crossly, turning his back on Sirius to face her. "What was that for?"  
"Um, James? You had this on your back," Sirius said, stifling a laugh as he passed the sign to his friend.  
"Carrot!" James shouted, reaching out to grab her.  
Lily shrieked and ran out the portrait hole, slamming it shut in his face.  
"When I catch her I'm going to hex her!" James yelled furiously, running after her.  
Lily, Darcie, and Mei Long had already disappeared down the hall towards the Ravenclaw entrance.   
James caught up with them as they neared there.  
Mei Long beat on the entrance.  
"Leila!" she shouted. "Let us in!"  
The statue moved aside and Leila poked her head out. "What?"  
"Hurry!" Darcie said.   
Leila caught sight of James running after them and pulled the three in without another word.  
James got a good sight of the statue as it shut in front of him.   
  
  



	3. Of Potions and Quidditch

A/N: Thank you ever so much to those who reviewed! I am so much inclined to them that I will list their names:   
o Lilly  
o Davita  
o Claire Goodyear  
o Kathy   
o Danielle  
o Goldenphoenix  
  
And to Ginny and Lilly, who have helped me tremendously with my writing. Thanks a bunch!  
Thank you very very much for your support!! This story is dedicated to all of you!   
And to all of the people who tried to look over my shoulder while I tried to write this-IT'S JUST A STORY! There is absolutely no thanks to you.   
Lastly, to Jamie, because of what she's done for me.   
And now, on with the story you've all been waiting for!  
  
Part 3  
Over the course of the year, Lily and James had gotten hexed several times.   
James had gotten the Jelly-Legs curse, the Dancing curse (it made you dance for an hour before the counter-course would work. James had to dance in the back of the History of Magic class, while everyone watched. A/N: Go Lily!), the Tongue-Catcher (couldn't say a word for a week), the Tickling Charm, and various others, not to mention that his robes would never be the same again.   
Lily, on the other hand, had suffered the Leg-Locker curse, the full Body Bind (the boys had shoved her under her bed and Mei Long found her 3 hours later), had her hair color changed several times, and found that James could turn her pillow into insects such as spiders. Ew!  
They had the entire summer to think up new hexes and relax, not that it did any good.   
On the train ride to Hogwarts, they managed to avoid each other (thank God.) However, it was close to impossible to avoid each other in the Gryffindor common room.  
"Hey look, Sirius," James said loudly the moment he saw Lily. "It's a human carrot!"  
Lily ignored him, but said under her breath, "Oh my god! It's a huge lummox!"   
Mei Long had a fit of giggles that made her choke, causing Darcie to wallop her across the back.   
A lot had changed about Hogwarts in the small time they had left, but not the teachers' unfortunate habit of placing James and Lily together.   
"What is it with our teachers?" Lily asked, resuming her usual seat next to James when partners were called. "They must have it in for us."  
For the first time in his life, James found himself agreeing with Lily. "Tell me about it," he grumbled.   
Little did they know, Sirius and Mei Long had had a talk with their teachers.   
"Hey, I'll make a deal with you, Carrot," James said, looking at his hands. "You do the Charms work, and I'll to the Transfiguration. That way we'll both get good grades."   
Lily was surprised, but who was she to say no? "Deal," she smiled. "You're really good at Transfiguration, compared to my lousiness."   
Lily realized what she had said and quickly added, "Which makes up for your repairing charm!"   
"Well, your pencil still squeaks when you write!"   
"Remember what happened when you tried that Slug-Belching hex?"  
"The only change your tomato made was to get strawberry seeds!"  
"Hey, keep it down," Rose Brown said, frowning. "Some of us are trying to work!"  
Lily and James went back to work, but Lily couldn't help but giggle.  
"What?" James asked.  
"Remember what Sirius and Mei Long did to that poor mouse?"   
James laughed behind a hand, remembering how its tail had reappeared on its nose. Eyes replaced the ears, and goodness knows what happened to the nose.   
Lily pointed her wand at James and laughed, "Quietus."  
James voice was instantly lowered.  
"What was that again?" she asked, grinning. James glared until she returned his voice to normal.   
They spent the rest of the lesson goofing off, Lily trying out spells on James and James changing Lily's things into odd replacements.   
"Having fun?" Sirius asked. "Class ended five minutes ago."  
Lily and James instantly stopped laughing at James' twitching ears and grabbed their stuff. Without a word to each other they walked out of the classroom.  
"Have they got it bad," Mei Long said, shaking her head.   
Sirius just rolled his eyes.  
  
~#~  
"So what's been going on with you today?" Mei Long asked Lily as they got ready for bed.  
"What are you talking about, Mei Long?" Lily said, shooting an odd glace at her friend.  
"What she's trying to ask you is what came over you and James in Charms today?" Darcie asked, getting involved. "You were laughing and everything."  
Lily shrugged. "We were just remembering all of the stupid things you guys have done," she said, still brushing her fiery red hair.   
A pillow came down on her and she yelped, turning around.   
"Mei Long Chang!" she said, glaring. Instead of saying another word, Lily grabbed her pillow and flung it at Darcie. Soon, the three were involved in a huge pillowfight. Feathers were flying everywhere, and the three looked like they had gotten in the wrong way of a feather charm.   
They took one look at each other and burst into laughter.   
"You looked like a chicken," Darcie panted, pointing to Mei Long.  
"Well, Lily looks like a chicken someone tried to behead!" Mei Long laughed.   
This sent the group into further hysterics (A/N: Lil, does this remind you of a certain five ppl at lunch?), which ended when a girl from down the hall stuck her head in at told them in unpleasant terms to be quiet.  
It was only later that night, when Lily was once again the only one awake, that Lily took Mei Long's words to heart. "What is going on with me?"   
  
~&~  
Over the next few days, Lily was blissfully free of James. None of the teachers had any pairing up for lessons, which left Lily to do her own thing for once. The world was perfect, or at least until Friday the 13th. It proved to be a very fateful day.   
By the last class of Potions Lily was praying for free time.   
"Today we will experiment with sleeping drafts," Professor Hyde sneered. The head of Slytherin house, she always seemed to favor them. Lily figured this would be no exception.   
"We'll be pairing up, as I only have so much of the ingredients," the Professor said. "Brown and Finnigan- you're together."   
Hyde moved up and done the isles, paring people with their neighbors. Lily automatically assumed she would be with Mei Long, who was sitting right next to her.   
"I don't think so," Hyde jeered. "You, Evans, will be with..." she looked up and rested her eyes on the person behind Lily. "Potter."   
Lily pursed her lips in a sign of distaste. "Not again!" she thought.  
After she and Sirius had rearranged themselves (he would be working with Mei-Long), Lily rolled up her sleeves and began chopping dandelion roots.  
"How much are you willing to bet that the teachers plan all of this?" Lily asked, keeping her eyes on her knife.   
"Six galleons," James responded promptly.   
"I'll bet seven," Lily said.   
"Eight."  
"Like you even have that much!" Lily said skeptically.   
"I do too! I won five off Sirius the other day," James protested.   
Lily leaned over James's arms and dropped her dandelion roots into the potion.   
"Hey, where did you get that bruise?" James asked.   
Lily drew her arm back. "Oh, this little thing? I hit my arm when I went to turn off my alarm clock yesterday," she said unconvincingly.   
"Yeah, sure. Where'd you get it?"   
"I told you!" Lily said, stirring the potion. "I hit it on my beside table!"  
"Right. You can tell me you know." James dropped his powdered snake fang into the glop.   
"I wish I could," Lily said under her breath. "If I had something to tell you, I would," she told him. "Don't makes something out of nothing."  
"Your potions will need to stew for a moment before they can be tested. Put them aside while you clean up," Professor Hyde directed.   
Lily began to clean without another word, leaving James in the dark. If she had a secret, he would find out, or he wasn't a Marauder.   
  
~%~  
During dinner that night, James took out the vial of sleeping draught he had sneaked from potions.   
Discreetly, he emptied it in Lily's pumpkin juice as he reached for the cornflower muffins.   
Towards dessert, Lily announced that she was going to bed and left, stumbling a bit.   
"Hey Mei Long," he asked nonchalantly.  
"Hey James," she said.   
"What time is Carrot's alarm cloclk set for?"  
"Lily's alarm clock?" Mei Long frowned. "She doesn't have an alarm clock."  
  
  
  
~!~  
That night, Lily slept like she was drugged (she was!). James hardly slept at all. He lay awake in for quite awhile, wondering what it was that she was hiding. She didn't have an alarm, but banged her arm trying to turn it   
off. James drifted off to sleep thinking of ways to get it out of her.   
  
~*~  
Lily felt like she was returning from the world of the dead when Darcie woke her up with the last whack of a pillow.   
"What?" she asked groggily, poking her head out from under the covers.  
"You look terrible!" Mei Long exclaimed. "What happened to you? Are you sick?"  
"Thanks ever so much," Lily said dryly. "And I'm very tired so I wouldn't mind if you just left me alone." With that, she disappeared under the scarlet covers.  
"Not a chance!" Mei Long said as she threw back the covers. "Who do you think I am? You're going straight to the hospital wing!"  
"No..." Lily moaned, but it was no use. Mei Long grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the bedroom. On the way out, Lily caught sight of herself in the mirror. Dark circles ringed her usually bright eyes, which were now a dull green. Her complexion had faded until she was ghostly pale.   
"What happened to you, Carrot?" Sirius demanded. James swallowed nervously and fiddled with his robe sleeve.   
"Just tired," Lily yawned. "Let's rest for just a minute, okay Dragon?" (A/N: Mei Long is Chinese for beautiful dragon, or something like that)  
Mei Long rolled her eyes.   
"Darcie, tell Professor Kettleburn that we'll be a little late to Care of Magical Creatures," she instructed, dragging Lily along.   
James watched as they disappeared from sight.   
"Uh-oh," he thought.  
  
~$~  
  
"Somebody's given her an overdose of sleeping potion," Madame Pomfrey said, clucking her tongue.  
"We made some in potions yesterday," Mei Long said uncertainly. "Maybe she's just had trouble sleeping so she took some."  
"Either way, she needs a good rest here," Madame Profrey said sternly. "And she shouldn't go around playing with potions."  
Lily opened her eyes and stared up, towards the top of her crimson bed. But it wasn't there. She sat bolt upright, about to grab for her wand.   
"Up already, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked.   
Lily stared at her. "What happened?" she managed to choke out.  
"Oh, you just took an overdose of sleeping potion. You ought to be more careful," the nurse scolded, checking her temperature.   
"I didn't take any sleeping potion," Lily blurted out.   
"Of course you didn't dear," came the vague reply.  
Lily frowned. Who would've done this?  
"Is she awake?"  
Mei Long walked around the corner, out of breath.  
"Oh, hi Mei Long," Lily said cheerfully.  
"Someone's happy," Mei Long remarked, ruffling Lily's hair.  
"So, what happened after I left the table?" Lily asked nonchalantly as she walked down to the Gryffindor common room.   
"Oh, James was being stupid. As usual." Mei Long rolled her eyes.  
"What did he say?"  
"He was going on about you having an alarm clock."  
"My what?"  
"Your alarm clock. Said something about you turning it off."  
Lily froze. James! Why hadn't she guessed? But what was he doing?   
"Lily?" Mei Long said, waving her hand in front of the redhead's face. "We're here."  
Lily walked in with Mei Long and faced a bombardment of questions. What happened? Was she all right? Did Madame Pomfrey try to poison her?   
She noticed James was in the back corner of the room. She met his stare and glared for a moment, before making up some excuse about writing to her Mum and left for her room.  
Why did he give me sleeping potion? Lily thought. And why is he trying to invade my personal life like this?!   
  
~@~  
  
"Ouch!" James yelped as something hit his face-hard.   
"What's wrong with you James?" Sirius asked, flying up next to him. "That's the second time you've let the Quaffle get you. What's eating at you?"   
"Nothing," James muttered, rubbing his head.   
Sirius flew alongside the tower that framed the Quidditch field.   
"Hey look! There's Mei Long! ...And Darcie and Lily too," Sirius quickly added.  
"So it is," James answered.  
"Maybe they want to play!" Sirius said, already flying downwards.  
"Maybe they don't," James grumbled, then followed his friend. "The things I do for him..."  
  
~#~  
"Do we want to play Quidditch?" Mei Long echoed. "Well..."  
"Of course we do!" Darcie answered, being the more sporty girl of the group.  
"Um, I've got to finish my homework!" Lily finished the last part quickly.  
James raised his eyebrows. "Is Wiwy afwaid of heights?" he teased.  
"Of course not! No! What gave you that idea?" Lily asked in a strange voice.  
"You are afraid of heights!" James crowed.   
"So what?" Lily demanded, putting her hands on her hips.   
James shrugged. "Just thought you wouldn't be afraid of something stupid like heights. I thought you were brave."  
Lily stared open-mouthed. "I'll show you!" she said. "I'm not afraid of heights!"  
With that, Lily marched out towards the Quidditch field after Darcie.  
James grinned.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Lies

A/N: Once again, thanks to everybody who r/r ed! Surprisingly, a bunch of ppl have read this, ranging from my English teacher to people I don't even know!   
And, because I love reviews, I am going to wait until I get at least five more before posting the rest!  
One last thing- what do you want in this story? Drop me a line and I'll try to include your wonderful ideas.  
Because I can find no more things to pester you guys with, on with the story!  
  
Part 3, Section 2  
  
Lily stared at the Quidditch field before her. "What have I gotten myself into?" she moaned.  
"You wanted to do it yourself, you know," James reminded her.   
"I'll be scorekeeper!"  
"Nice try."  
Lily looked around for another excuse to not play. "I don't know how to ride a broomstick!"   
"We learned last year."  
"There aren't any extras!"  
"Have you checked the broom shed?"  
"Um, yes!"  
"Yeah, right."  
"I'm afraid of heights!"  
"Don't look down."  
"Will you ever let me just forget I said I would play?!"  
"Nope." James hid a grin. "Come on, we're choosing teams!"   
He pulled Lily across the field to where Sirius and the others were standing.  
"Oh, come off it, James," Lily tried desperately. "I'll just watch!"   
"Not a chance," he replied.   
"Hey James. It took you long enough!" Sirius greeted. "It's girls against boys."   
"Hey, c'mon," Darcie said, grabbing Lily's sleeve.   
"What's the position with the least amount of playing?"  
"The seeker," Darcie promptly replied.   
"That's me!" Lily said triumphantly. Then after a moment's hesitation, added, "So what do I do?"  
"Oh, you just catch this little ball. No big thing, really," Mei Long said, trying to reassure Lily.  
"WHAT?!" Mei Long elbowed Darcie in the ribs. "Er, right. Just fly around and look for a little gold ball. Then try and catch it. We'll do the rest."  
"Alright!" Lily thought happily. James can't make me do anything hard after all!  
Lily kicked off with the rest of them, but flew above the game, despite her fear of heights. There was absolutely no way she was getting caught up in the game below, and besides, the little yellow bird she was following was pretty.   
"Hey, Lily!" yelled someone.  
Lily turned her head, and her broom, in the direction of the speaker.  
"Ah!" she screamed, barely missing him.   
"What do you think you're doing?!" James demanded.  
"I can't fly that well!" Lily defended. "And you were the one who called me."  
"Well I was going to ask you, what are you doing up here? The ground is like fifty feet below!"  
"Ja-ames!" Lily said loudly, holding her broomstick so tightly her knuckles turned white. "You didn't have to tell me!"  
James laughed. "You should've seen the look on your face! It was priceless!"  
Lily glared, and tried not to look down. I'm not so high up, she told herself.   
"Is poor Lily scared?" James taunted. "You can always forfeit, you know. But then your team will lose. Oh well- it'll be quicker."  
Lily glared furiously at James. "You think that I'm going to listen to-" Lily broke off in mid sentence and held up her hands. Something was speeding directly towards her face. A small ball-like thing slammed into her hand, and she closed her fingers around her.   
She opened her eyes and found James to be staring at her. Lily held the Snitch in her hand.  
"Hey, Mei Long?" she asked, flying down towards her friend. "What happens when I catch the little gold ball?"  
"You caught it?" Darcie demanded. Lily held up the ball in answer.  
"We won!" Mei Long shrieked, grabbing Lily in a hug. "We won!"   
"You had better try out for the team!" Darcie yelled in Lily's ear. "You won against James!"  
"Why would that matter?" Lily asked.   
"Cause he's the best seeker in this damn school!" Darcie answered.   
When they had all arrived safely on the ground, much to Lily's relief, she rounded on James.   
"Nice try," Lily smirked, tossing him the golden ball. "Maybe next time."   
  
~*~  
James never forgot how Lily had beat him at Quidditch.   
"It was an accident! She held up her hands to block herself and it hit her!" James told Sirius, but he still thought James should've beaten her.   
Word had gotten around fast, and all the girls teased James to no end. He learned to like his room a lot better than the common rooms.  
"You may resume working on Cheering Charms with your partners," Professor Flitwick said. "But please try to do it correctly this time. Madame Pomfrey is in the hospital wings if there are any more mistakes."   
James looked around the room for Lily, but she wasn't there.   
"Professor? My partner isn't here," James said.   
"She isn't?" Flitwick looked even more stressed, if that was possible. After taking a quick look in his attendance book, he answered. "Oh yes. She is currently in the hospital wing."  
"But she was there for the last two classes," James muttered.  
Flitwick continued as if he didn't hear James. "For the time being, you may work with another group."  
James automatically got up and walked towards Sirius' group.  
"I'm working with you again," he muttered.   
"Oh good," Sirius grinned. "Let me practice on you."  
Five minutes later, James was on his way up to the hospital wing feeling extremely sick.   
"It's an C, Sirius, not a B," Darcie said.   
James rolled his eyes. At least one person was worse than him in Charms.  
"Hello?" James called.   
"What's wrong, dear?" Madame Pomfrey clucked.   
"Cheering charm gone wrong," James said. "Sirius again."  
"Sit down, and I'll fix you up."  
James sat down in a chair and looked around until a voice startled him out of his thoughts.  
"What are you doing here?" Lily demanded, striking her usual pose with her hands on her hips.  
"What are you doing here?" James asked back.  
"I asked first."  
"So?"  
"You answer first."  
"Sirius messed up on his Cheering Charm again," James muttered.   
"Oh."  
There was silence for a moment, before James said, "Now you."  
"Oh, I keep doing stupid things." Lily laughed, or tried to.  
"Like what?"  
"Just stupid things."   
"Lily, you can tell me what's going on you know.  
"What are you talking about?" Lily looked at him oddly, trying another laugh. "I always knew you were off your rocker."  
"About the bruises. That's why you're here, isn't it? You said you hit yourself when you turned off your alarm. You don't have one."  
Lily stared at James, her cover blown.  
"It's nothing, okay?" Lily said quietly, gathering her bag. "You should stay out of it. I don't want you to get hurt too."   
"What do you mean?" James demanded.  
Lily smiled sadly at him and walked out of the door.  
"Here, let me help you, dearie," Madame Pomfrey said, handing him a potion. "Drink this."  
James choked down the potion, which tasted like a bad variation of cough medicine.   
"Thanks," he said, jumping up and running out the door. "Got something to do."  
~%~  
James eyed Lily from across the table the next morning. She looked normal, if pale, but was laughing as usual. Whatever cover she had lost in the hospital wing had returned.   
Lily remained composed all throughout the meal, ignoring James' analyzing stares, until mail came. An unfamiliar owl dropped a letter in her lap. She stared at it as her stomach lurched.   
Carefully, she unfolded it and paled to a dead white. It was him again...  
James watched her as she opened the letter. She looked faint, and her eyes spoke the doom she felt.   
"Are you okay Lily?" he asked. All eyes turned to her.  
"Oh, I'm fine," she lied hastily. "I just left something in the common room. I'll be right back."  
Without another word, Lily left the table.   
~!~  
Lily ran along the hallways. She wasn't a big believer in Divination, but she remembered Professor Ninjin's words.   
"I am quite sorry to inform you, my dear, but both of the things you are dreading will come true."  
One was unfolding before her very eyes, but the other... What was it?   
Without realizing it, Lily had sank into one of the soft chairs in the common room.   
She grabbed her Divination and Defense Against the Dark Arts books, her next classes before the break, and ran into James as he entered the common room.  
Lily stared at him for a moment before rushing out of the common room.  
James stared after her. He turned around to see what she had been doing and found that her black bag had been left behind.  
He picked it up to give it back to her, but everything spilled out. The many concealers and foundations tumbled onto the floor, as well as a piece of parchment. James picked it up and read the spell it described. "A Charm to Disguise Bruises..."  
~#~  
James was vacant all day, or so it seemed to Sirius. He never answered Sirius' questions unless he was poked violently. Sirius decided to try one more time.  
"Hey James, wanna set off a dungbomb in the hall tonight?" This was James' favorite thing to do, it set the caretaker off his hinges.  
James didn't answer.  
Sirius sighed and faded back into the stupor that came with the History of Magic.  
~&~  
James knew something was seriously wrong. First the lies, then the disappearances, now the letter, charm, and (he shuddered) make-up. Suddenly, James thought of something. The letter she got, it might still be in the common room.   
He would corner her after he read the letter and she would tell him everything. Whoever was hurting Lily, James thought, he would kill.  
Then he mentally recoiled. What am I saying?! He thought, but it was obvious. He already knew.   
~$~  
Mei Long looked worriedly at the clock. Lily had promised to meet her in the common room at 5:30 to visit Leila, but it was already 6:01.   
"James?" Mei Long asked. "Have you seen Lily?"   
James shook his head. "She doesn't usually tell me where she's going."   
"Are you sure?" Mei Long persisted. James could tell she was close to tears.  
"I'm sure she'll be back soon," Darcie said, coming up behind her. "Why don't you go get the book for Leila?"  
"Okay," Mei Long replied shakily and walked back up the stairs to her room.  
"I wouldn't be half so worried if she wasn't disappearing all week," Darcie sighed. "Or if she hadn't been so vacant."  
"Yeah," James agreed, looking around. "Where was Lily?"  
The two waited in silence for a moment before Darcie spoke. "I'm going to see what Mei Long's up to. It doesn't take this long to go get a book."  
James nodded.   
By the time 6:30 had rolled around, Mei Long and Darcie had left to see Leila on their own. James had promised to keep on the lookout for Lily.  
Sirius, Lupin, and Wormtail had gone up to their room and, by sound of it, were trying to levitate the bed.   
James was trying to carry on a conversation with a giggling first year when the portrait swung open.   
~&~  
Lily anxiously checked her watch. It was 6:10. Lucius and his Slytherin friends should be here by now.  
She waited by the shadows of the wall and shivered slightly. It was cold out, and the Quidditch field wasn't what Lily would call the warmest place to be.   
Three people walked onto the field and towards Lily. Despite herself, she shuddered.   
"Well, well, well," Lucius sneered. "If it isn't our little Lily."  
Lily glared at him, but refrained from talking back. Crabbe and Goyle where standing menacingly behind him.   
Lucius had been doing this since she had refused to go out on a date with him. First it was threatening letters and Howlers, then it was blackmail, now this. Lily had decided she wouldn't put up with it anymore.   
"We told you what would happen, you know," Lucius said. "I gave you several chances. But I'll offer you again."  
"I wouldn't go out on a date with you if my life depended on it, Malfoy!" Lily snapped.  
"Well, if that's the way you feel." He said airily, stepping back. "Crabbe? Goyle?"  
The first time one of their massive fists made contact, it wasn't so bad. But soon Lily was trying to shield herself, to no avail.   
Soon the pain was riding away on a little cloud...the little cloud that was right in front of her eyes.   
Suddenly, she remembered she had her wand. "Impedentio," she whispered and a small white light drifted out of her wand and around her foe's heads.   
"You fools!" Lucius snapped. "That was me!"  
Lily ran, ignoring her throbbing head, as fast as her legs could carry her into Hogwarts. The Gryffindor tower seemed so far away...  
Finally, after an eternity, Lily was stepping into the portrait. The happy chatter suddenly turned to silence.  
James was standing nearby, his jaw hangiing.  
"I'm still not telling you," Lily said weakly, then collapsed in a dead faint.   
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
